Southern Bayberry
Morella cerifera
Fast-growing evergreen for salt, wind, and poor sandy soil. Waxy blue-gray berries carry warblers and tree swallows through fall and winter.
Typically 1 quart–3 gal · $17–$85 · final price at pickup
- Thu, Aug 138 AM – 4 PM
- Fri, Aug 148 AM – 4 PM
- Sat, Aug 158 AM – 2 PM
Fast-growing native evergreen with berries that feed birds all winter on dry, sandy, salt-exposed sites where most plants fail.
Southern bayberry is the evergreen counterpart to northern bayberry, native to the southeastern coastal plain and growing faster and taller in warmer zones. The small, aromatic, blue-gray waxy berries that cover female plants in fall and winter are one of the most important bird foods on the eastern seaboard. Tree swallows eat them during fall migration, and yellow-rumped warblers depend on them through winter in coastal areas. This is the plant that keeps the birds there after the other fruit is gone. The narrow, lustrous evergreen leaves are fragrant when crushed, the same waxy coating that makes bayberry candles. It grows quickly on dry, sandy, infertile soils and fixes nitrogen, improving the soil as it grows. Salt spray doesn't touch it. Wind doesn't bother it. This is the native evergreen for difficult coastal, sandy, and low-fertility sites where little else holds.
A nursery-grown plant, ready for the ground.
Healthy, container-grown southern bayberry propagated on-site at Hill House from regional genetics. Includes a one-page care card. We make every effort to supply plants as listed; occasionally we substitute a similar species of equal value.
Plant southern bayberry instead of Privet (Ligustrum spp.) in coastal landscapes. Same job in the garden, without the spread.
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Average
- Mature size
- 6–10 ft · 6–10 ft wide
- USDA zones
- 7–10
- Family
- Myricaceae
- Native range
- Southeastern United States from New Jersey to Florida and Texas, primarily coastal plain
Care notes for southern bayberry.
Full sun to part shade in dry, sandy, or poor soils. Salt tolerant. Nitrogen fixer. no fertilization needed. Fast-growing once established; essentially maintenance-free on dry sites. Plant male and female plants together for berry production. Tolerates hard pruning in spring if size management is needed.
Pairs well with these.
Same light, same soil, same wildlife. Janet's picks to plant alongside southern bayberry.
Or skip the guesswork.
Curated packages bundle complementary species for an instant habitat. One reservation, one pickup day, a printed layout map.
Short on Space Package
For gardeners who have an abundance of passion but are short on space, this package features tidy, upright, clump-forming natives that behave and function well in small spaces.
Shade Bed Package
Ferns, sedges, and woodland natives that thrive under existing trees.
Birder’s Paradise Package
For the avid bird watchers and budding ornithologists in our community, the Birder’s Paradise Package consists of species that Hill House Nursery staff and longtime native plant advocates such as Doug Tallamy consider ‘premier bird garden plants’.